


Shift

by TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel



Category: Jurassic World (2015)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Shapeshifters - Freeform, Velociraptors, spoilers for the movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-18
Updated: 2015-06-25
Packaged: 2018-04-04 23:37:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4157271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel/pseuds/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Most of Owen’s family were shifters. As it turned out, Owen wasn't any different. </p><p>(What he could shift into, on the other hand...)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Most of Owen’s family were shifters.

There weren’t too many true shifters left, in the modern world. Most of them had been hunted down in days gone by, not that there had been that many of them to start with. Exaggerated tales of werewolves and the like – ravaging monsters which preyed on innocent people – had led to shifters being killed whenever other people found out they could shift their shape, and a culture of secrecy among those who had survived the purges.

Things were better these days; people didn’t believe in the old stories, anymore, and no one kept an eye out for people with a magical talent or two. But most shifters kept their abilities quiet, all the same. A lot of them didn’t even tell their husbands and wives about what they were, too afraid of what might happen if they did.

Owen’s family were lucky that way: most of his family were shifters, which meant no one in the family had to hide from one another. Being a shifter wasn’t like in the old myths and legends. For a start, shifters were born, not turned, and to produce a shifter child both parents needed to have the talent somewhere in the family line. Secondly, each shifter took on a different shape, dependent on what animal most suited their disposition. There were a number of wolf-shifters in Owen’s family, but his older sister was a panther, and one of his cousins was a hawk, even. There was no predicting what kind of shifter a person might be, not until they reached puberty and underwent their first change. But that didn’t stop other shifters from wondering.

Owen had never experienced his first shift. Once upon a time that had bothered him a lot. These days, though, he mostly didn’t care anymore. He’d lived a full and interesting life, even if he couldn’t shift into an animal form. He had better things to care about.

Four rambunctious velociraptor juveniles, for example.

Owen walked towards the raptor pen, knowing that the raptors would hear and smell his approach. Owen’s own hearing and sense of smell were unnaturally acute – part of the advantages of being a shifter, even a latent one. The scent of _predator_ grew stronger the closer he got to the raptor pen, but the scent didn’t bother Owen at all.

Owen had wondered for years what his other shape would be, if he were capable of shifting. Then he’d met three tiny, clawed menaces fresh out of the shell and gotten a good whiff of their scent, smelling of something somewhere between bird and reptile, and thought in wonder, _well, how about that?_

The fact that Owen smelled so much like them was probably the only reason why the raptors had never attacked him, the way they had the other handlers. But that didn’t mean that the raptors wouldn’t, someday, decide to turn on him. Owen knew that.

As Owen reached the pen, four streamlined shaped appeared out of the undergrowth, hissing and chittering in excitement. Owen found that it wasn’t difficult for him to interpret the raptors’ vocalisations, no matter how much the other handlers complained about being unable to. Another perk of being a shifter, he supposed.

“That’s right girls, it’s feeding time,” Owen told the juvenile raptors. Blue shrieked in delight, shoving her sisters out of the way to be the first to reach the fence. She waited expectantly, eyes fixed on Owen.

Owen went through their usual routine – _eyes up, on me, hold_ – before throwing them some of the pieces of raw meat he had in his bucket. The raptors swallowed the pieces greedily, and keened for more. Only when the bucket was empty did Owen give them the ‘all done’ signal, and the raptors scampered off, looking for entertainment.

“You really think you can tame the raptors?” asked a voice from behind Owen. Owen didn’t flinch, or show any other sign of surprise. He’d heard the other man approaching.

“Hell no,” said Owen, turning to face Barry. “Tame a bunch of raptors? They’re wild animals. That would never work. But train them? Well, I’m not doing too badly, so far.”

Barry shook his head. Clearly he didn’t agree with Owen’s assessment.

“Any idea how long it’s going to be before the new enclosure is finished?” Owen asked. “They’re getting too big for the pen.”

“Tell me about it,” Barry said, with a shudder. “I keep thinking about how sooner or later they’re going to be able to jump the fence, and then we’ll all be in trouble.”

“Well, if they do, maybe my training program will help. Stop them long enough for us to get away,” Owen joked, grinning at the look Barry shot him. “Come on, I’m kidding.”

“You think it’s funny, but it’s really not,” Barry muttered.

“Hey.” Owen reached out and clapped Barry on the shoulder. “They’re not going to escape. The new enclosure will be finished before they get big enough to jump the fence. Don’t worry about it.”

Barry just looked sceptical. Owen chuckled.

* * *

The new enclosure was finished within a couple of weeks, thankfully. The four young raptors were rounded up and sedated, and transferred to the new enclosure.

The new enclosure resembled a small fortress, with walkways at the top so that the handlers could observe the raptors in their new environment. Owen was on one of the walkways, leaning on the hand rails next to the other raptor handlers, when the four raptors regained consciousness.

There was some distressed chirping at first, the raptors twitching as the drugs wore off, leaving them confused and disoriented. Owen felt sorry for his girls as they slowly got to their feet, stumbling around and letting out distressed calls. The raptors had no idea what was going on, and their instincts were telling them that their drug-affected state was leaving them open and vulnerable to any predators that might be in the area.

Suddenly Blue lifted her head and let out an urgent, questioning bark. She repeated it twice, her head swinging around as her gaze searched the new enclosure.

Owen knew that she was looking for him.

“Easy, Blue,” he called out.

“Man, what are you doing?” asked one of the other handlers.

“It’s okay, you’re safe,” Owen continued, ignoring the other handler. At the sound of Owen’s voice, steady and reassuring, the raptors stilled, turning their heads until all four raptors were looking at him. “Blue. Charlie. Delta. Echo. You’re fine, okay? Everything’s going to be okay.”

To the evident surprise of the other handlers, the  raptors settled down after that, no longer calling out, although they still seemed somewhat distressed. Their vocalisations dwindled to soft chirps and hissing amongst one another, as they slowly recovered from the drugs they’d been given.

After a while Blue moved to explore the new enclosure, and the other raptors fell into formation next to her. Owen watched them go as they disappeared into the nearest set of bushes.

“Have fun, guys,” he muttered under his breath, and turned to leave the walkway, the last of the handlers to do so.

Part of Owen felt wistful, knowing that from now on he’d be seeing the raptors from a distance, instead of up close. He’d helped raise them from the moment they’d hatched, and more importantly, some part of him insisted that the animals were _pack_. It was an instinct Owen denied most of the time, but it was still there.

Sighing, Owen left the walkway, and hoped that the raptors settled into their new enclosure without any trouble.

* * *

Time passed, and the raptors grew, reaching maturity relatively quickly. Owen only found himself growing closer to them, growing to understand their individual personalities and group behaviour better than anyone else. By this point people around the park were calling him ‘the raptor trainer,’ and treating him as more than just a handler. It annoyed some of the other handlers, but Barry only smiled wryly and said that maybe Owen deserved his unofficial job title.

Owen wouldn’t have cared about the issue, really, except that Vic Hoskins had gotten it into his head that the raptors could be trained to follow orders. Owen wasn’t exactly sure what applications Vic thought raptor training would have in the real world, but he was pretty sure he didn’t want to find out. He’d tried to explain that the raptors didn’t really follow orders, but Vic refused to listen.

The incident with the guy who fell into the raptor enclosure only cemented Vic’s belief that the raptors were biddable creatures who would fall into line the moment Owen told them to.

Scrubbing a hand through his hair, Owen let out a frustrated huff. Sure, the raptors followed his commands if it meant getting a treat – _if_ it suited them to. The only reasons the raptors hadn’t attacked Owen while he was in the raptor cage were the fact that A, they’d just been fed, and B, for all that Owen was in human shape, he smelled faintly like a raptor himself. But the raptors had been indecisive, Owen knew that, and if he’d been in the enclosure any longer they probably would have attacked him.

Owen might be alpha of the pack, but alphas only lasted for as long as they could beat every challenge made by the rest of the pack. And if Owen found himself fighting a fully-grown raptor, he’d lose his place as alpha as quickly as he could blink. Owen might be a little faster, a little stronger than the average human, with more attuned senses, but he wasn’t in the same league as a raptor, and he knew it.

Owen had a bad feeling that this morning’s incident was only going to come back to bite him in the ass.

A sound in the distance suddenly made itself known, and Owen’s abstracted gaze suddenly focused, as he stared in the direction of the noise. A couple of minutes later a car made its way over the top of the hill, driving down towards Owen’s place, and Owen raised his eyebrows, recognising Claire Dearing’s car. He might not know Claire well, but he understood her well enough to know that she wouldn’t come out here to see him unless she had to. Which meant that something was up.

Owen wondered what, exactly, as Claire’s car pulled up in front of his house and came to a stop.

Whatever was going on, he had a gut feeling that things were about to get interesting.


	2. Chapter 2

Interesting didn’t even _begin_ to cover it.

Several hours later, and Owen was running away from one of his raptors, alongside Claire and her two nephews.

Owen’s pack had turned on him, choosing the Indominus rex as alpha over him, and although that _hurt_ , more than Owen had expected, he’d shoved that feeling down. He couldn’t afford to be emotional right now. He could deal with his hurt feelings later – assuming that he survived that long.

Owen skidded to a stop outside the double-doors, Claire and the kids doing the same behind him. Their way out of the park was blocked by the raptor squad, which were quickly moving to box them in.

“So that’s how it is, huh?” Owen asked, as the raptors closed in, hissing and baring their teeth. He tried not to feel too bitter, knowing that it was simply the raptors’ nature.

It was Blue who stepped forward, until she and Owen were face-to-face. Slowly, Owen lowered his gun to the ground, knowing that the raptors would kill him before he could get off a shot. His only hope now was his pack bond with the animals.

Owen reached out with his free hand, slowly and carefully. Blue snapped at him, and hissed in warning.

“Easy,” said Owen quietly, and continued to reach out. Blue made no move to stop Owen as he undid the strap that attached the camera and monitoring equipment to Blue’s head. It fell away, and Owen stared into Blue’s eyes.

“How’s that?” Owen breathed, and took a deep breath. The scent of raptor was all around him, his nerves were nearly shot to hell, and he and the others could very well die any second.

There was a roar nearby, and Blue’s head whipped around as the Indominus stalked around the corner of the nearest building, joining the raptors. It was massive, its footfalls making the ground shake, and as it approached it let out a low bellow that Owen felt vibrate through his ribcage.

The Indominus looked at Blue, and let out a couple of short barks. Blue’s head turned back to Owen, and she let out another little trilling sound, her eyes meeting his.

Blue turned suddenly and roared at the Indominus. The enormous predator snarled in reply, and batted her aside. Blue went flying, hit the side of the nearest building, and went still. Owen felt himself tense in anger.

The other two raptors let out bellows of fury. Owen looked at them, gauging their changed mood, and took a chance. He gave them the ‘go ahead and attack’ whistle.

Both raptors ran forwards to attack the larger dinosaur, leaping onto its back and slashing and biting. Owen grabbed for his gun as Claire and the two kids ran for the nearest shelter.

As the two raptors tore at the Indominus, Owen took aim with his shotgun, and fired.

The Indominus let out a bellow of pain, and turned to face Owen. They were only about ten feet away from each other. The Indominus snarled, and let out a roar that Owen felt down to his bones.

Owen snapped.

There was a rush of terrified rage somewhere deep inside him, and Owen felt something _shift_. A moment later his bones and muscles started to follow suit, as the angry _Indominus_ stepped forward.

Owen’s shotgun clattered to the ground as he bent into a crouch, letting out a howl of pain. Halfway through the sound changed, from a human cry to something distinctly more animalistic.

Owen straightened, and looked up, and the world looked different.

 _What the hell,_ Owen tried to say, but what came out instead was a hissing roar.

The two raptors on the Indominus’ back sent back astonished cries of their own, and Owen finally understood what had happened. He’d _shifted_.

Into velociraptor form.

The Indominus let out a confused sound, and Owen let loose a wild, delighted cry. He was running high on euphoria and adrenalin, and as the Indominus took another step forward, Owen sprang into action, joining the raptors in tearing at the Indominus’ hide.

He lost himself in anger and hunting instinct, and was only shaken out of it when there was a deafening roar from nearby. Owen dropped down off the Indominus’ back, landing on the ground, and stared incredulously at the Tyrannosaurus rex that was issuing a challenge to the Indominus. Then he noticed the pale figure near the T-rex’s feet.

Claire was sprawled on the ground, staring up as the two behemoths prepared to do battle, and Owen knew that he couldn’t leave her.

No one had ever taught Owen how to shift back to human form, because he’d never needed it. Owen had no idea what he was supposed to do.

Instead he broke into a run, heading straight for Claire.

Claire’s expression shifted into terror and she tried to climb to her feet. Owen slowed his run, approaching a little more slowly. He  stopped a foot or so from where Claire was lying, and bent his head, nudging her arm with her snout. He gave a small trill, and hoped that Claire understood that she needed to get moving.

With Owen helping, Claire climbed to her feet, and ran. She took refuge behind the nearest wall, and Owen figured that was the closest to safe that Claire was going to get.

He swung his head back in the direction of the battling dinosaurs, just in time to see the Indominus and the T-rex crash into the merchandise stand where Claire’s nephews were hiding.

Owen made an alarmed noise, just as Claire screamed, “ _Run!_ ” The two boys appeared from the ruins of the merchandise stand just as it started to collapse, and ran to where Claire was crouched.

Owen watched as the Indominus and the T-rex continued to fight, crashing into buildings as they went. The T-rex was putting up a good fight, but the Indominus was stronger, and the T-rex was beginning to visibly flag. Owen snarled.

There were two short, familiar barks, and Owen’s head came up incredulously. Blue – who he’d last seen lying unconscious, possibly dead – was running down the street towards the Indominus. Owen realised that she planned to join the T-rex in fighting the Indominus.

Owen looked for the rest of the pack, but couldn’t see them anywhere. Blue let out another bark, and Owen slowly started forward, gathering speed as he moved, joining the other velociraptor. Together, they leapt onto the Indominus’ back.

Owen had no idea what Claire and the kids were doing, but he was too busy taking bites out of the Indominus to pay any attention to them.

Owen and the other dinosaurs fought back and forth, the Indominus and T-rex losing or regaining ground as Owen and Blue darted around them, and the Indominus found itself standing at the edge of the Mosasourus enclosure. The Indominus opened its jaws, letting out a defiant bellow – but an even bigger shape launched itself out of the water, closing its jaws around the Indominus. The the Mosasaurus slid back into the water, the Indominus kicking and roaring in protest as it disappeared below the surface, and everything was still.

For a moment, everything was still.

Blue let out a soft noise, and approached Owen cautiously, sniffing the air. Owen wanted to say _hey_ , and a quiet trill emerged from his snout.

Blue tilted her head as she looked at him, then turned to look at the T-rex, which was staring down at the two raptors.

The T-rex let out a relatively soft sound, while Blue responded with a trilling vocalisation of her own. Owen waited to see what happened next.

Slowly, the T-rex turned away, and stalked off into the night, leaving Blue and Owen behind.

Blue looked back at Owen, and let out another soft sound. _Follow me?_ Owen knew it meant. He dipped his head, letting out a hissing noise of disagreement.

Blue stared at him a moment longer, before she turned, and like the T-rex, ran off into the darkness.

Owen swung his head around, looking for Claire and the two kids. They were standing some distance away, staring at him. Owen took a step towards them, and stopped as the younger kid let out a gasp of fear and the other two tensed. Right. Still in raptor form.

Owen tried concentrating on his human body, on what it felt like to have fingers and thumbs and toes, to stand without a tail to act as a counterbalance, to have a semicircle of blunt even teeth instead of a triangle of sharp ones, to _feel_ like a human being instead of like a raptor. After a moment, Owen felt the change sweep over him, and when he opened his eyes, he was kneeling on the ground, breathing like he’d just run a marathon.

His acute hearing picked up Claire’s incredulous “ _Owen?_ ” beneath her elder nephew’s “ _Holy shit!_ ”

Owen let his body sag, and somehow, began to laugh. The sound was ragged at first, but gained strength as he continued laughing, loud and hysterical.

Claire ran over to him, and Owen realised that she was _still_ wearing heels.

“How did you _do_ that?” Claire demanded, her voice full of bewilderment, and Owen shook his head, his laughter dying down to chuckles.

“It’s a gift,” he told her. “You didn’t think the raptors listened to me just because I gave them treats, did you?”

Claire stared at him, her expression confused and amazed as the two boys joined them.

“But _how?_ ” said Claire. “People can’t just – just turn into velociraptors and back!”

Owen looked up at the three faces looking down at him, and chuckled weakly. The adrenalin was wearing off, and he was starting to feel shaky and exhausted. The emotions he’d been suppressing – hurt at the pack’s turning on him, grief for the raptor who had been killed by the InGen soldiers, anger, and so much fear – were rising to the surface, and Owen felt like he was going to break down some time soon.

He forced himself to climb to his feet, muscles aching the way he’d heard they always did after a first shape-change. They needed to get out of here.

“Is there anyone left on the island?” Owen asked tiredly. Claire blinked, like she hadn’t expected the question, and visibly redirected her thoughts.

“Lloyd Lowery’s in the control room,” she said, and Owen tensed, realising that there may have been an extra witness to his shapeshifting. Claire frowned at him, and then her eyes widened as she caught on.

She raised her hand, and spoke into her communication unit.

“Lloyd, how much did you just see?” she demanded.

“ _You mean the guy turning into a dinosaur?_ ” came a staticky voice from the communicator. “ _Saw the whole thing. It was hella awesome._ ”

Owen closed his eyes, wincing.

“ _But don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone_ ,” the guy added. “ _That’s what you’re worried about, right? Well, you don’t need to, because the secret’s safe with me_.”

“Thank you,” said Claire. She hesitated. “Lloyd, is the evacuation still going?”

“ _The last boat left an hour ago_ ,” said Lloyd. “ _But I can contact the mainland, get them to send out another one. I think._ ”

Owen leaned over to speak into the communicator.

“You do that. We’ll meet you in the control room.”

“ _Right_ ,” said Lloyd. “ _And then you’ve got to tell me how you do the dinosaur thing, man. What are you? Like a were-dinosaur or something?_ ”

“Something like that,” said Owen. “We should get moving.”

Together, the small group began heading back to the main building of the park.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what do you guys want to see happen next? I'm willing to consider suggestions, although no promises.


	3. Chapter 3

It was a long, cold night in the control room until the boat came.

Owen felt bad about leaving Blue to fend for herself without a pack. He’d seen no sign of Delta or Echo anywhere and feared the worst, while Charlie had of course been killed by InGen soldiers out in the jungle.

It made Owen ache deep inside, knowing that he’d effectively lost his pack, even if they had survived. There was no way the park would be allowed to stay open, not after today’s catastrophe.

Owen and the others sat in the control room, eating snacks from the vending machine out in the hallway, which Lloyd had generously bought once he got a good look at the small group. Owen was covered in mud and gasoline and sweat, while Claire and the two kids weren’t much better off. They bolted down the snacks like they were starving.

Owen himself was surprised by how hungry he was. Shape-shifting had taken more out of him than he’d expected, for all that he’d known it took a lot of energy to do. He scoffed down potato crisps and candy bars along with the others, feeling a little better as the chocolate melted on his tongue.

Owen glanced up to see that Lloyd was watching him. So were Claire and the two kids.

“So… have you always been able to do that?” the younger kid blurted out, into the silence. “Turn into a dinosaur, I mean.”

Owen hesitated, wondering how much to tell them. He didn’t dare mention that his family were shifters, but as for the rest of it… he might as well share, considering how much the others knew already.

“In theory,” Owen agreed, meeting the kid’s eyes. “I never managed it before today, but I knew I was supposed to be able to do it.”

“How?” Claire asked, a puzzled furrow between her eyebrows.

“Instinct,” Owen said, choosing his words carefully. “I just knew I was supposed to be able to shift into something else, although I didn’t know exactly what. Not until I met the raptors.”

“And then you knew?” Lloyd asked eagerly, leaning forward in his seat. He looked fascinated.

Owen shrugged.

“They smelled like me,” he said simply.

“Smelled like you?” asked the older of Claire’s two nephews.

“I have better senses than most people,” Owen explained briefly. “I’m faster and stronger, too. Don’t tell anybody, okay?”

The two kids shook their heads in agreement, but Lloyd and Claire just stared at him. Owen didn’t know what to make of the expression on Claire’s face. It wasn’t quite afraid, not exactly, but it was something close.

“So that’s why you bonded with the raptors?” Claire asked. “Because you can turn into one, and they could sense that?”

“Yeah,” said Owen. “Pretty much.” He bowed his head at the reminder of his lost pack.

“Are you okay?” Claire asked in concern.

Owen let out a snort of derision.

“Are any of us okay?” he asked pointedly.

“Well, we’re alive,” said the older boy.

“You look sad,” added the younger one, watching him with wide eyes.

Owen shook his head.

“My pack’s gone,” he said, knowing that none of them would understand.

“You mean the raptors?” Claire asked.

“Dude, they killed a lot of people out there tonight,” said Lowery. He didn’t sound judgemental; more like he just wanted to remind Owen of that fact before Owen got sentimental.

“Yeah, I know.” Owen really did. His girls had slaughtered those InGen troops. “Hell, they turned on me for a while, remember? But they were still my pack.”

Claire gave him a sympathetic look, and reached over to squeeze his hand. Owen squeezed back.

He wondered if the two of them were together, now. He was pretty sure that after everything the two of them had been through, they at least had some kind of bond.

“Can you turn into other animals, or just a raptor?” asked the younger kid, and dammit, Owen needed to get the kids’ names.

“Just a raptor,” Owen replied. “You know, I don’t think I ever caught your names, guys.” He looked between the two kids.

“I’m Zach,” said the teenage boy.

“I’m Gray,” the younger one added.

“Well, it’s good to meet you,” Owen said. “You two did good out there today.”

“Yeah?” Zach asked, smiling a little.

“Yeah,” Owen agreed. He sat back in his chair, letting the conversation go on around him, and closed his eyes.

“You know, there’s no way they’re not going to close the park, after this,” he heard Lloyd say.

“I know.” Claire sounded sad, but resigned.

“I mean, the whole thing with the first park was a disaster,” Lloyd continued. “But this? The world’s biggest theme park, with all these people attacked or killed, in the age of social media? They’re going to be looking for someone to blame, Claire, and everyone else is dead.”

Claire inhaled audibly, but didn’t respond.

“I want to go home,” Gray murmured, and was reassured by his brother.

At some point Owen fell asleep, and only woke up when Claire shook his shoulder, telling him that the boat had arrived.

* * *

It was three days before anyone was allowed to return to Isla Nublar, and even then, only the essential park personnel were allowed to go back.

It had been an unpleasant three days, stuck in the warehouses that were being used as emergency shelter for the thousands of people. Those who could had gone home, but too many of the park’s tourists had left their passports and other belongings in the park’s hotel, leaving them effectively stranded until it was safe for them to return to Jurassic World.

The warehouses were crowded with tired, stressed out, and injured people, who hadn’t been able to bathe since they got here, and who were subsisting on supplies that had been flown in through the efforts of the Red Cross and Masrani Global. A stern-faced representative of the company had arrived two days earlier, and taken Claire aside to spend a good hour and a half asking her questions, getting her report on what had happened.

The representative had talked to Owen, too, although not for as long. Owen had done his best to shield Claire, laying the blame for the disaster at InGen’s feet. After all, they had been the ones who had engineered the Indominus, keeping her genetics a proprietary secret as per their agreement with Masrani Global. It wasn’t entirely Claire’s fault that she hadn’t known how dangerous the engineered dinosaur was, and Owen didn’t want to see her go down for it when the blame really belonged with the scientists who had created the Indominus in the first place.

For the moment, Claire was keeping her job, although Owen was pretty sure she was going to come under review by the board of directors before the whole thing was over. That could take a while, though, considering the fact that Simon Masrani had been killed during the disaster, leaving the board of directors scrambling to replace the company CEO and deal with the new primary shareholder.

For now, Owen was just glad that he was getting the chance to return to the island. The T-rex was still out there somewhere, free of its enclosure, but there had been no sign of it when Masrani Global’s hastily-assembled team had been sent out to assess the condition of the park. There hadn’t been any sign of the raptor squad, either, and Owen wasn’t sure what to make of that.

No one paid him much attention as he strolled off, away from the other personnel who were all warily returning to their apartments and housing to bathe and change clothes before returning to their duties. No one tried to stop him as he headed off to commandeer one of the park’s jeeps.

Owen drove out of the central area of the park, off into the personnel-only areas, and headed down towards his house.

Parking on the stretch of even ground outside his house, Owen got out of the car, and paused.

He could hear faint chittering, coming from the direction of his house.

Owen turned to face the house, and waited.

It took a moment before Blue emerged from the porch at the back of the house, followed by Echo and Delta.

Owen didn’t move as the raptors approached, making delighted vocalisations. He wasn’t sure exactly what was going on, but the raptors’ body language wasn’t hostile or predatory, so he’d roll with it.

“Hey, guys,” Owen said gently.

Blue stepped forward, and rubbed the side of her jaw against Owen’s cheek. As though this were a signal, the other two raptors bounded forward, and Owen was surrounding by raptor bodies bumping into him on all sides.

“Hey, Blue,” Owen said, rubbing along her jaw and getting a pleased trill in response. “Hey Echo, Delta,” he added, reaching back to give the other raptors head rubs as well. The raptors had never behaved like this before – treating him like he was another raptor – and Owen wondered if it was because they’d seen him change into raptor form.

Owen concentrated for a moment, feeling muscles and bone shift, and the next moment, there were four raptors instead of three.

Blue let out a shriek of joy, and rubbed her head along Owen’s jaw, while the other two raptors started back, giving startled hisses. Owen let out a low croon – _it’s okay, girls_ – and they stepped forward again, sniffing at him.

Echo bumped her head against his, while Delta stood shoulder-to-shoulder with him. After several minutes of this, Owen let out a series of short barks.

_Follow me._

It probably wasn’t a good idea to let the raptors roam through the park, but the raptor enclosure wasn’t too far away from Owen’s house – maybe ten minutes, going at raptor running speeds.

The other raptors perked up, their eyes on him, and Owen set off at a run. The other raptors let out hissing roars, and followed.

Running through the park in his new form was a rush. Owen’s entire body moved like a well-oiled machine, smooth and swift, far faster and more agile than his human body. Blue was running right beside him, while Delta and Echo were slightly behind him and Blue. Owen leapt over obstacles like fallen logs with ease, never halting or slowing his speed as he headed for his destination.

As they reached the edge of the enclosure, Blue and the others realised where they were. There were immediate snarls of protest.

_I don’t want to!_

Owen snarled back, making it clear that he wasn’t going to back down on this. Blue gave him a long look, without moving from where she stood.

Owen let out a low growl.

With a grumpy murmur, Blue fell into line, and headed for the enclosure. Grumbling amongst themselves, Delta and Echo followed.

Owen moved up to the gate, checking his surroundings for any humans, but the enclosure area was empty except for himself and the other raptors. He shifted back into human shape, and hit the gate button. The gate opened, and Owen turned to the raptors.

“Inside,” he said, gesturing at the open doorway.

Blue walked forward into the enclosure with a displeased hiss, the other two following.

Glancing around one more time to make sure that no one else was around to see him shape-shift, Owen changed into raptor form again, and walked into the enclosure himself.

He was there, playing around with the raptor squad, for at least an hour. The sound of footsteps on wood made him and the other raptors freeze instinctively, listening for the sound.

Someone was walking along the enclosure walkway.

Owen shifted back to human shape – it was still awkward, but he was starting to get the hang of it. Blue hissed quietly in disapproval, and Delta nudged him with her snout.

Owen walked forward, and stepped out of the undergrowth.

Barry was standing on the walkway, looking down into the enclosure. He looked surprised by Owen’s sudden appearance.

“Owen! Any sign of the raptors?” Barry called down.

Owen grinned up at him, and whistled. His girls immediately leapt out of the foliage they’d been hiding in, and Barry’s eyes widened.

“Are you crazy, man? Get out of there!” Barry yelled, gripping the hand-rail.

“Relax,” said Owen, and reached up to rub Blue’s jaw. She let out a small trill, and butted Owen’s head with her own.

“We’ve bonded,” said Owen. “Haven’t we, girls?”

Delta and Echo were too busy staring up at Barry to respond, but Blue looked back at Owen. Not for the first time, he wondered how much the raptors understood of human speech.

“You _are_ crazy,” Barry said, like it was a revelation. “Look, Owen – for my sake, if not yours – will you just get of there out now while you still can?”

Owen sighed, and turned to face his girls.

“Alright, guys, I’ve got to go,” he told them, his voice steady. “Stay inside the enclosure for me.”

He gave Delta and Echo a brief pat each, rubbed Blue’s jaw one more time, and turned and headed for the gate.

The faint sound of footsteps told him he wasn’t alone.

Owen glanced back over his shoulder to see the pack following him. Well, that wasn’t good.

Owen walked up to the edge of the gate, and turned to look at the raptors again. He raised his hand in one of the signals he’d trained them to recognise.

“ _Hold_ ,” he ordered, and the raptor squad stopped where they were. Owen edged backwards, stepping through the gate, keeping his hand up, his gaze never wavering from the raptors. He reached up and hit the gate button.

The raptors broke formation immediately, leaping forward, but too late – the gate had already come down by the time they reached it.

Blue let out a cry of frustration, which the others echoed.

“Easy,” Owen said. “Easy. I’ll come back, okay? I’m not going to leave you forever, so stop acting like I am.”

Owen patted their snouts through the gate bars before he turned and walked away, heading for the enclosure walkways.

Barry met him halfway there.

“You crazy son of a bitch!” he yelled.

“I think you called me crazy already,” said Owen.

“That’s because you are!” Barry wasn’t appeased. “Walking in there with a bunch of raptors!”

“Barry, they were at my house,” Owen told him, deciding to tell him the truth – minus the shapeshifting. “Must have tracked my scent there, or something. They followed me all the way back to the enclosure when I led them here. They’re not tame, but they know me.”

Barry took a deep breath.

“Owen, those raptors? They _killed_ people.”

“I know.”

“Well, it’s your funeral,” Barry said, shaking his head. He smiled suddenly. “Although, the way Blue was head-butting you…”

“Yeah, it was cute,” Owen agreed. Barry gave him an incredulous look.

“‘Cute’ is not my word for it.”


	4. Chapter 4

When Owen got back to his house, the first thing he did was take a shower and change into clean clothes. He’d been filthy for days, and it felt good to soap up and get rid of the lingering grime and mud.

Afterwards, wearing a clean pair of jeans and a t-shirt, Owen sat down on the couch and made a phone call.

“ _This is Judy_ ,” said a voice on the other end.

Owen cleared his throat.

“Hey, Mom.”

There was a scream on the other end.

“ _Owen! Oh my God, are you okay?_ ” his Mom said. “ _Why haven’t you been returning my calls? Are you hurt?_ ”

Owen found himself smiling a little at his Mom’s evident concern.

“Nah, I’m fine,” he said. “Although things are a mess, here.”

“ _I saw the news_ ,” said his Mom. “ _And it was all over Twitter_.”

“Since when you use Twitter?” Owen laughed. It felt good to talk to his Mom. Own felt something inside him relaxing, unwinding after the last few days of terror and stress.

“ _Your sister showed me how, last time she visited_ ,” said his Mom. “ _There were all kinds of terrible photos, of winged dinosaurs attacking people…_ ”

“Technically, those aren’t dinosaurs,” Owen said, and heard a growl through the phone.

“ _Owen…_ ”

“Sorry.”

“ _Is it true one of the big dinosaurs escaped?”_ his Mom wanted to know, and Owen sighed.

“It’s true. I was one of the people they sent to capture it.”

“ _What?!_ ” Owen’s Mom yelled, and Owen winced, moving the phone away from his head.

“Yeah,” said Owen. “But on the plus side, guess what? I had my first shift.”

“ _You_ …” Owen’s Mom was, for once, speechless. Owen grinned into the silence.

“ _You… shifted?”_ Owen’s Mom said faintly, before rallying a moment later. “ _Oh Owen, that’s wonderful! What kind of creature are you?”_

Owen’s grin widened, knowing that what he was about to say would throw his Mom for a loop.

“I’m a velociraptor, Mom. Like the dinosaurs I work with.”

There was another stunned silence.

“ _That’s impossible_ ,” his Mom said at last. “ _You can only shift into a living animal, and dinosaurs…_ ”

“Have been extant in one form or another for the last twenty-two years,” Owen pointed out. “InGen first resurrected the raptor for Jurassic Park decades ago, Mom. They were definitely around when about the time I hit puberty, which is when first shift usually manifests. I mean, maybe that’s why I had so much trouble shifting until now – because I wasn’t a natural species, but an engineered one.”

“ _I’ve heard that sometimes first shift can happen late in life, in response to trauma or life-threatening events_ ,” his Mom said abstractedly, as though she were thinking things through. Then she seemed to realise the implications of what she’d just said. “ _Owen! Were you in danger?_ ”

“Just a little,” Owen conceded, wincing slightly. “But hey, I shifted, so it was fine. Plus my pack was with me.”

“ _Your pack?_ ” his Mom repeated, and Owen told himself that it was like ripping of a bandaid.

“Didn’t I ever mention?” He tried to sound casual. “The raptors have always acknowledged me as alpha.”

“ _You built an animal pack around yourself?! Owen Peter Grady! What were you thinking? You know how dangerous it is to attempt that!_ ”

“It just kind of happened,” Owen argued. “I wasn’t trying to do it on purpose. Besides, it worked, didn’t it?”

Owen heard his Mom taking deep breaths.

“ _You are more trouble than your sister and all your cousins put together_ ,” she said, and Owen laughed.

“Thanks, Mom.”

“ _I mean it, Owen. Your sister never makes me worry like this._ ” She let out a long breath, audible even through the phone. “ _You really have a functional pack?_ ”

“Really,” Owen confirmed.

“ _Of… dinosaurs_.”

“Raptors, Mom. Call them raptors.”

“ _Raptors, then_ ,” his Mom conceded. She sounded reluctantly fascinated. “ _You realise you’re probably the only dinosaur shifter in the world?_ ”

“Yeah, I know.” Owen had thought about it.

“ _Your sister’s going to want to know what it’s like, you know_.”

“Clara’s nosy, I know that,” said Owen. “She’s been intruding on my life since I was born, Mom.”

“ _Be nice about your sister_ ,” his Mom said absently, apparently out of reflex.

Owen rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything. There was a short silence.

_“With all this bad publicity, do you think Jurassic World is going to close?”_ his Mom asked finally.

“Looks like it,” Owen said sadly. “I mean, unless legal pulls a miracle out of its ass.”

“ _Owen!”_ his Mom scolded him over his language.

“Sorry, Mom.”

There was another short silence.

“What are you going to do, if it closes?” his Mom asked.

Owen exhaled slowly.

“I have no idea.”

* * *

Later Owen got a call from Claire, inviting him to have dinner in her apartment. He agreed without thinking much about it. It was only afterwards that he realised that this was probably a date, and Claire was likely to be expecting to see him in something better than a pair of old jeans and a worn t-shirt. After all, his attire hadn’t gone down well last time.

Owen swore to himself, and went looking through his wardrobe for something decent. It wasn’t like he had much occasion to dress up, here on the island; most of his good clothes were back home, in the stuff he’d stored in his old bedroom at his parent’s place – it had been too impractical to bring it all out to Isla Nublar, and his parents had agreed to let him leave it at their house for as long as he needed.

In the end, Owen found a pair of black trousers and a decent jacket, which he wore with a relatively new shirt. He hoped it was enough for Claire.

He arrived at her apartment at seven, and knocked.

Claire opened the door, looking a little surprised to see what he was wearing, although it seemed to be the good kind of surprise.

“I see you dressed up a bit this time,” she commented, and then looked like she wished she could take back her words.

“Well, I didn’t seem to make that great an impression last time, so…” Owen said wryly. He glanced down at his clothes. “I’d forgotten I even had this jacket. Not much call for dressing up as a raptor handler.”

He looked back at Claire, who was wearing a nice dress that was probably her standard of casual. It suited her. Like, a lot.

“You look… really nice,” Owen said, his tone admiring. Claire glanced away at the compliment, but she was wearing a little pleased smile, so Owen figured he’d said the right thing.

“Anyway, do come in,” said Claire, ushering him inside. The smell of food cooking filled the air.

“Are you cooking?” Owen asked, sniffing the air.

“Well, it’s not like any of the restaurants have reopened,” Claire said modestly. “I’m not a chef or anything, but I like to think my cooking skills aren’t too bad. Although honestly, it’s been ages since I last had to cook a meal, so hopefully I’m not too rusty.”

She smiled at Owen, a little nervously, although she covered it well. Owen smiled back.

“So, this is a nice place you’ve got here,” he said, glancing around at the expensive décor. “It pays to be the boss, huh?”

“I’m not the boss, that was Mr Masrani,” Claire said. Her shoulders slumped a little.

“They picked a new CEO yet?” Owen asked.

“Not yet, but it’ll probably be Simon Masrani’s younger brother,” Claire said. “He’s next in line.”

“Any idea whether they’re going to close the park?” Owen asked.

Claire gave a long exhale.

“It looks like we’re staying open, for the moment. Remember those waivers everyone has to sign before they step foot on the island?”

Owen’s eyes widened as he got an idea of where this was going.

“Wait, are you telling me Jurassic World isn’t legally accountable for the attacks and injuries?”

“To a certain extent,” Claire replied. “Everyone who was killed or injured has a right to a certain level of compensation, according to the forms they signed, but legally, they’re responsible for their own safety while on the island. It’s a various on the standard contracts all wild animal parks have.”

Owen whistled.

“So the park is just getting away with it?”

“Well, Masrani Global will need to pay compensation to everyone who was injured or killed, and the bad publicity will no doubt hurt visitor numbers and sponsorship, but as long as the Costa Rican government doesn’t step in to shut us down, technically we’re good to go.”

Owen shook his head in disbelief.

“That’s nuts.”

“I thought you’d be pleased, considering the fact that it means you’ll probably get to stay with the raptors,” Claire said, taking a seat at the kitchen table. Owen followed suit, taking a seat on the opposite site of the table so that they were facing each other. “Speaking of, I heard that you somehow got them back into their enclosure.”

Claire looked a little hesitant as she spoke of the raptors, as though wondering if she were touching on a private subject. But Owen didn’t mind, not when it was Claire.

“Yeah, they turned up at my house – must have tracked my scent there,” he told Claire. “So I shifted into raptor shape and led them back to their enclosure. They didn’t want to go back in, but I insisted.”

“Can I…” Claire started, and paused.

“Can you…?” Owen prompted, feeling curious.

“Can I see you turn into a raptor again?” Claire blurted. “I mean, it’s amazing, and I just…” She trailed off, unable to find the words.

Owen grinned at her.

“Sure.” He stood up, pushing his chair back from the table, and backed up a bit before initiating the change. He felt the shift sweep over him, and when he looked back at Claire, his vision was different.

Claire was staring at him, moving slowly closer. She reached out a tentative hand, and when Owen didn’t move, stroked one hand down the side of his head. Owen let out a surprised trill at how pleasant that felt, and Claire smiled, patting his neck.

Just then a timer went off, and Claire turned away, her hand falling from Owen’s neck.

“That’ll be the chicken breasts done,” she said, and Owen shifted back into human form. Chicken sounded good; after all the shifting and running around he’d done today, he was feeling hungry.

Owen hovered, unsure if Claire wanted help, as she removed the tray of chicken breasts from the oven and dished them up onto two plates, followed by the tray of baked potatoes.

“No greens, I’m afraid,” Claire said, placing the two plates in her place at the table and at Owen’s. “I couldn’t get anything fresh.”

“That’s fine,” Owen said. The two of them sat down again, ready to eat their meal.

The chicken breasts turned out to be done in some kind of herb mixture, and were delicious.

“You are definitely a good cook,” Owen said through a mouthful, and Claire smiled.

“Thank you.”

The two of them ate in silence, Owen watching Claire out of the corners of his eyes, but she didn’t seem to mind the lack of conversation. When they were done eating, Claire collected both plates, and dumped them in the sink.

“I’ll put them in the dishwasher later,” she told Owen, and cleared her throat. “I was wondering if you wanted to stay, and watch a movie?”

“I’d love to,” said Owen.

Claire smiled, and Owen smiled back.  
 


	5. Chapter 5

The next day, before Owen went off to feed the raptors, he stood in front of the full-length mirror in his bedroom, and shifted into raptor shape.

He was bigger than his girls, that was his first thought, taller and broader, with a longer, more triangular snout. His skin was vaguely pebbled-looking, and a dull, muddy brown in colour, in contrast to his raptors’ brightly patterned hides.

Overall, Owen had a meaner, more reptilian look than the raptor squad did. Still staring at his reflection curiously, Owen thought back to the discussion he’d had with his Mom, and wondered if this was what the original Jurassic Park raptors had looked like. If so, Owen was glad he’d never had to deal with them. He opened his mouth experimentally, getting a good look at his own sharp teeth.

Closing his mouth again, Owen shifted back to human form.

“Huh,” he said aloud, and left the bungalow.

When he arrived at the raptor enclosure, Barry was already there, waiting, with buckets full of raw meat.

“About time you got here,” he said. “What took you so long?”

“I was appreciating the scenery,” Owen quipped, slipping on disposable gloves. He picked up a couple of the buckets and walked up the stairs onto the walkway. He leaned on the railings and whistled loudly, and a few moments later the raptors came sprinting into view, crying welcome.

“Morning, girls!” Owen called, and was met with trills and happy roars. Echo danced about, making the sound she always made when she was hungry. The other raptors joined in, their faces staring up at Owen in expectation.

Owen chuckled, and began throwing the raptors bits of meat. The raptors snapped them out of the air eagerly, swallowing down the meaty chunks without chewing. Barry lifted his bucket and began throwing pieces of meat as well.

A pang went through Owen as he looked down at the three raptors, missing the fourth. Charlie had always been entertaining to watch during feeding time, running around and accidentally whacking the others with her tail. She’d been the baby of the group, barely two years old.

Owen wondered if the other raptors missed Charlie, like he did.

The raptors finished their meal, but stayed near the edge of the enclosure, looking up at Owen as though they were waiting for something. They made no move to run off like they usually did.

“That’s weird,” said Barry. “Normally they run off as soon as feeding time’s over.”

“Yeah…” Owen said distractedly. He had a theory about why they hadn’t left, yet. He stripped off his gloves, and swung his legs over the edge of the railing.

“Owen!” Barry hissed. “What are you doing?”

“Testing a theory,” Owen said, and jumped. He grabbed onto the branch of the nearest tree as he fell, and climbed down the rest of the branches before dropping the few remaining feet to the ground.

The moment he did the raptor squad came running over, making welcoming sounds again.

Owen was right. The raptors wanted him to interact with them.

“Owen! Get back here!” Barry hollered, leaning over the edge of the walkway. Owen ignored him.

“I know there was a soccer ball in here somewhere…” Owen muttered, glancing around, looking for it. The raptors followed him as he searched the enclosure, finding the soccer ball near the far wall.

“How do you guys feel about playing ball?” Owen asked, picking the soccer ball up between his hands. Blue cocked her head and let out a curious trill. Grinning, Owen dropped the ball at his feet, and kicked it hard.

The ball shot off across the ground, and Owen ran after it. He kicked it a second time, and a moment later there was a large blue-striped body beside his, checking him out of the way. As Owen stumbled slightly Blue batted the ball with her head, sending it rolling.

The other two raptors seemed to catch onto the game, then, competing to be the one chasing after the ball and batting at it. The game lasted until Delta, in a fit of excess excitement, bit down on the ball with her jaws. The ball slowly deflated. Delta nudged it, but the mangled ball stayed where it was.

Echo made a mournful sound, and the three raptors looked back at Owen.

“Sorry,” he said. “That was fun, though, huh?”

Blue chirped at him.

Owen and the raptors glanced up in unison at the sound of laughter. Owen blinked as he saw Barry standing on the walkway. Holding a video camera.

“Are you – did you just _film_ that?” Owen asked in disbelief.

“I’ve been filming for the last ten minutes,” Barry said, doing something with the camera. The little red ‘recording’ light winked out as the device was turned off.

“Why?” asked Owen, honestly baffled.

“I’ll show you the video later, and maybe you’ll see why,” said Barry. “I figure the park needs all the good publicity it can get, yes? I know one of the guys who runs the social media sites for the park. A video of you and the raptors playing with a ball will make his day.”

“I don’t know…” Owen said dubiously. “We don’t want to give people the idea that the raptors are harmless.”

“No one’s going to think _raptors_ are harmless,” Barry scoffed. “Come on, Owen, even you have to admit people are going to want to see this.” He patted the side of the camera. “And it could do the park good. Heaven knows we need it.”

Owen still wasn’t certain about the idea, but he gave in, absently patting Delta and Echo as they fought for his attention.

“I don’t know, man,” Owen said. “But you’re right about the park needing positive attention. I guess if you really want to put it online, I won’t stop you.” He turned back to the raptors, rubbing Blue’s jaw and scratching Delta above the eye ridges. Echo nudged him, and Owen rubbed the side of her jaw as well.

Letting his arms drop, he backed away slowly, heading for the tree he’d used to climb into the enclosure. He turned and started to climb, when there was warm breath on his back and a second later something yanked hard on the back of his shirt.

“Blue!” Owen glanced over his shoulder to see the raptor’s jaws closed on his shirt. “Blue, no. Let go.”

Blue gave his shirt another gentle yank.

Without intending to, Owen let out a low, raptor-like growl. Blue jerked back, almost pulling Owen out of the tree, and let go of his shirt.

“Good girl.” Owen resumed climbing the tree.

 Blue barked at him – _come back_ – but Owen ignored her. As he came level with the walkway he jumped, and grabbed onto the railing. Swinging his legs over it, Owen climbed back onto the walkway.

Barry walked forward to meet him.

“I heard they reopened the staff commissary,” he said. “Want to go get breakfast together?”

“Sure,” Owen said. “I ate some cereal, but it wasn’t much. I need to stock up on supplies next time the deliveries come.”

“Then come on,” said Barry. “Let’s go.”

Together the two men left, heading towards the staff commissary building, chatting about the raptors as they went.

* * *

It was nearly two months before Jurassic World reopened to the public. There was significant repair and rebuilding work to be done, and that took time. A bigger problem was the  fact that InGen had taken off with all the material in the labs and withdrawn all their scientists, which meant that there would be no new dinosaurs added to the park unless Masrani Global could force InGen to honour their contract. There were rumours that InGen was chasing military contracts, but no one seemed to know where those rumours had started. Given the disastrous failure of the raptors on their one assigned mission, Owen couldn’t help but doubt the military would want dinosaurian strike teams any time soon.

Fortunately, dealing with InGen was above Owen and Claire’s pay grade, but the problem meant that things didn’t look to good for the long-term prospects of the park. If the park couldn’t produce new attractions to keep up visitor numbers, profits would fall, and eventually the park would close.

Owen tried not to think about it, knowing that there was nothing he could do about it.

The video of Owen and the raptors chasing the soccer ball had gone viral across the internet. Claire had privately congratulated Owen on the piece of good publicity, and Owen had told her honestly that the video had been Barry’s idea.

Approximately a week after the park reopened, Owen received a text from his sister.

_I’m in the Jurassic World Starbucks,_ the text said succinctly. _Come and meet me._

Owen stared at his phone screen in bemusement.

“What the hell?” he muttered.

“Problem?” Barry asked. The two of them had been bringing in this week’s meat order and storing it in the raptor fridge when Owen had gotten the text.

“My sister’s here. On the island.” Owen glanced up, meeting Barry’s eyes. “She wants me to meet her.”

“Your sister?” Barry raised his eyebrows, looking interested. “I didn’t know you had a sister. She hot?”

Owen snorted.

“She’d eat you alive,” he said. Barry shrugged philosophically, like he thought he’d take his chances.

“Go ahead and meet your sister,” Barry said, seeing Owen’s uncertainty. “I can finish this by myself.”

“Thanks,” said Owen, clapping him on the shoulder. “I owe you one.”

“Damn straight,” said Barry, grinning. Owen only laughed, and went to meet Clara.

Sure enough, his older sister turned out to be sitting in Starbucks with a coffee, going through her emails on her phone. Owen tried to sneak up on her, tiptoeing up behind her.

“I know you’re there,” Clara said calmly, without looking up from her phone. “Don’t even think about it.”

Regretfully, Owen abandoned his plan to pounce on his sister, taking the seat on the other side of the small table, instead. He studied Clara. Her hair was down, and while the clothing she was wearing was expensive, it was also pretty casual – a loose blouse paired with designer jeans. All the signs pointed to one thing.

“Are you on _vacation?_ ” Owen asked wonderingly. “Here?”

Clara finally put away her phone, and looked up. She didn’t look much like Owen overall, with jet-black hair and pale skin, but their eyes were exactly the same.

“There’s this video that’s gone viral of _some idiot_ playing with a pack of velociraptors,” was Clara’s greeting. “Were you dropped on your head, as a child?”

“You’d know better than me,” Owen said amiably, well-used to his sister’s lack of tact or friendliness. Clara was _vicious_ , and it didn’t matter whether she was in human or panther shape; she’d tear you apart either way.

Clara let out a small groan.

“Mom told me you built a pack,” she said. “Owen, what were you _thinking?_ ”

Owen shrugged.

“It just sort of… evolved,” he said. “Besides, it’s not like I could leave once I worked out I was one of them, Clara. You looked over my contract for me, remember?”

“Of course I remember.” Clara slumped in her seat. “But Owen, if anyone catches on that your bond with the animals is more than it seems, we’re _all_ in trouble.”

“Relax,” Owen told her. “I’m careful.”

Clara narrowed her eyes.

“You haven’t shifted around them, have you?”

Since Owen had, in fact, spent the previous evening in the raptor enclosure, once all the other handlers were gone for the night, playing with the raptor squad, the only tell he gave Clara was a small blink.

Clara let out a low snarl.

“Owen!”

“They’re my pack, okay? Of course I’m going to hang out with them.” Owen brightened. “Hey, I should take you to meet them.”

Clara regarded him warily. If she’d been in her other form, her tail would have been lashing.

“Only if it’s from a distance,” she said reluctantly. Owen grinned widely and got to his feet, holding out a hand to Clara. She took it, and Owen hauled her to her feet.

“Come on,” said Owen, and Clara grabbed her bag and her coffee and started after him.

“Am I allowed to be here?” Clara asked, as she followed Owen into the personnel-only area.

“Probably not,” Owen agreed.

“I’m blaming you for everything,” Clara informed him, but didn’t stop following him out to the raptor enclosure.

Together they went up the steps, up onto the walkway. Clara peered curiously down into the enclosure. There was no sign of the raptors anywhere.

“Where are they?” Clara wanted to know.

Owen let out a loud whistle. Clara winced and glared at him, and Owen shrugged apologetically.

“Sorry.”

But there was an answering call from the bushes in the enclosure, and Blue came sprinting out, joined a moment later by the other raptors.

Owen heard Clara gasp, and grinned to himself.

“That’s what they look like?” She leaned over the railing, peering down at the raptors. Three curious raptor faces looked up at her.

“Yeah.”

“And you?” Clara glanced at Owen.

“I’m bigger,” Owen said.

Clara rolled her eyes.

“No, really.” Owen held up a hand. “About this tall, bigger than my girls, with different colouration. I think I take after the original Jurassic Park raptors.”

“Jurassic Park?” Clara said in confusion.

“Right.” Owen had forgotten that the existence of the original park wasn’t commonly known. “About twenty-two years ago, the first engineered dinosaurs were produced, here on Isla Nublar. They built a theme park around them, Jurassic Park, kind of like Jurassic World, only  smaller. Problem was, things went dramatically wrong and the park was closed down before it ever got off the ground. Most people never even knew it existed. The whole thing was hushed up.”

“What happened?” Clara’s eyes were wide and interested.

“The raptors got out,” said a voice behind Owen, and Barry walked forward to stand next to him. “Our raptors were deliberately designed to be smaller, more open to socialisation. Less dangerous. Jurassic Park didn’t do that. Their raptors were straight out of the Cretaceous, and it showed. Only a handful of people got off the island alive.”

While Clara was absorbing that, Barry smiled, and offered his hand for Clara to shake.

“I’m Barry,” he said. “I’m a raptor handler, like Owen here.”

Clara shook the offered hand – a little too firmly, if Barry’s wince was any indication.

“Clara,” Clara said, her smile positively predatory.

“Um…” Barry looked suddenly uncertain.

“Come on, let’s go back to my house, and we can talk there,” Owen said, rescuing his friend from Clara’s playful mood. Clara turned to go, and Barry sent Owen an alarmed look. Rolling his eyes, Owen turned to say goodbye to the raptors.

“Later, guys,” he promised, before chasing after Clara as she headed back towards the main area of the park. “Dammit, Clara, wait for me! You can’t just wander off here! This area’s personnel-only!”

And to think his Mom said _he_ was trouble, Owen thought darkly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There probably isn't that much more of this fic to go, but I hope you all enjoy this latest chapter!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Unless I receive further inspiration, this is the last chapter. Sorry, guys! I just ran out of steam on this one._
> 
> _Also, please check out the Jurassic Park/Jurassic World commentfic meme, if you're interested. It's at http://aceofannwn.dreamwidth.org/1045.html There's some interesting prompts and fics up already, but we could always use more!_

Once inside the bungalow Clara settled onto Owen’s couch, and stared at him expectantly.

“What?” asked Owen, a little irritably.

“I want to see your other shape,” Clara said. “Go on. Show me.”

Owen shrugged, and shifted. He heard Clara’s swiftly indrawn breath as he focused his sharp gaze on her, listening her heartbeat pick up.

There weren’t many things that were higher than a panther on the food chain, but a velociraptor was one of them.

Clara was staring at him, lips unconsciously drawn back in a fearful snarl as Owen took a step forward.

Owen let out a playful bellow, and watched as Clara jumped, clutching at her heart.

“You _asshole_ ,” Clara hissed, and threw a couch cushion at him. It hit Owen in the face and fell to the floor. Owen raised his arms, and prepared to jump. Clara’s eyes widened.

“Owen, don’t you _dare_ –”

Owen leapt, landing on the back of the couch and flipping it over, sending Clara tumbling to the floor.

“ _Owen!_ ”

Owen let out a chirp of amusement as Clara got to her feet, glaring.

“Jerk,” Clara said, but she took a step closer, her eyes travelling over Owen’s raptor form. Her ire faded a little as curiosity took over. “You weren’t kidding about being different from the other velociraptors, were you?” She reached out a hand, running it down Owen’s neck and back, feeling the slightly-pebbled skin. “You definitely look more intimidating.”

Owen let out a trill of agreement, and butted his sister with his snout.

The moment was interrupted by Owen’s phone going off, and without bothering to ask Clara walked over to the table and picked it up from where Owen had left it, answering the call.

“Owen Grady’s phone,” she said crisply.

There was a pause, and then the person on the other end responded. Owen’s keen hearing – even better in raptor form than it was in human form – picked up every word.

“ _Who is this?”_ Claire asked, her tone suggesting that she wasn’t sure whether she should be upset by a stranger answering Owen’s phone.

“This is Clara Grady, Owen’s sister,” said Clara, raising her eyebrows at Owen. Owen growled a little. Clara flinched slightly.

“ _Oh_ ,” Claire said blankly, after a second. “ _I didn’t know Owen had family visiting_.”

“Sorry,” said Clara, “but who are you?”

Owen quickly shifted back into human shape.

“Clara, don’t be rude and give me the phone,” he said, striding forward.

“ _I’m Claire. Surely Owen’s mentioned me._ ” Claire’s voice sounded a little uncertain. Clara opened her mouth.

Owen snatched the phone off his sister before she could say something insulting and raised it to his ear.

“Hi,” he said into the phone.

“Owen, do you have a _girlfriend?_ ” Clara demanded loudly.

“ _Owen, you didn’t tell me your sister was visiting_ ,” said Claire, and Owen hoped she hadn’t heard Clara’s question.

“That’s because she sprung it on me as a surprise,” said Owen. He held the phone away from himself and hissed at Clara, “We haven’t discussed the exact status of our relationship, okay?”

He put the phone back to his ear just in time to hear Claire say, “ _–join us for dinner?_ ”

“Sorry, can you repeat that?” Owen asked.

“ _I asked if you thought your sister would like to join us for dinner tonight_ ,” Claire said patiently.

“I’ll ask her,” said Owen, turning back to Clara. “You want to join me and Claire for dinner?”

“Sure,” said Clara, her eyebrows raised.

“She says she’d love to,” said Owen into the phone.

“ _I’ll have to change our reservation to three then, but it should be no trouble_ ,” said Claire briskly.

“Awesome,” said Owen. “So, uh, why were you calling? Is something wrong?”

“ _Maybe I just missed the sound of your voice_ ,” Claire said, and Owen could tell that she was smiling.

“That’s a pretty good reason,” Owen said, feeling his mouth turn up at the corners. Clara was staring at him, eyebrows raised.

“ _Although actually, I was checking to make sure you hadn’t forgotten we were having dinner at the Hilton’s restaurant tonight_ ,” Claire went on.

“Me, forget that I was having dinner with a charming and beautiful woman like yourself?” Owen asked.

“ _Well, you’re a busy man, dealing with raptors all day_ ,” said Claire, and the smile was back in her voice.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be there. Unfortunately, so will my sister,” said Owen, making a face at Clara.

“ _Well, I’ll expect to see you both there at seven_ ,” said Claire. “ _Have fun with your sister_.”

“Yeah,” Owen said, and Claire hung up. Owen put his phone down.

“So, there’s a lady in your life,” Clara said musingly. “Is this the first girlfriend you’ve had since you got out of the Navy?”

“Maybe,” Owen said noncommittally.

“You haven’t mentioned her to anyone,” said Clara. “Why?”

“Because like you said, this is the first girlfriend I’ve had in years. And we haven’t been dating that long,” said Owen. “I wasn’t ready for family-levels of scrutiny, okay?”

Clara grinned.

“Well, you’re in for it now.”

“I know,” Owen grumbled. “You’re even worse than Mom.”

“So what’s she like, this Claire? Will I like her?” Clara asked.

“Probably,” said Owen, and muttered, “That’s what worries me.”

* * *

Owen and Clara waited outside the restaurant just before seven. Clara was looking around impatiently, while Owen was more laid-back about the whole thing.

“I can’t believe you actually dressed up,” Clara was saying. “You must really like this woman.”

Owen ignored this observation, his gaze fixing on the redhead entering from the hotel lobby. Claire had dressed up tonight, and looked absolutely stunning.

“Owen,” said Claire, greeting him with a smile. She turned to Clara. “And you must be Clara.”

Clara was staring at Claire with her eyebrows halfway to her hairline.

“ _You’re_ my brother’s girlfriend?” Clara asked, her astonishment evident.

Claire’s smile became a little fixed in the face of Clara’s surprise.

“Well, we haven’t actually talked about the precise nature of our relationship,” said Claire, “but I suppose I am. Is there some kind of problem?”

Clara glanced at Owen and back to Claire, and slowly smiled.

“Not at all,” she said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Oh my God, you are such a snob,” Owen mumbled. It was clear Clara thought he was dating up.

“Thank you,” said Claire, looking bemused. “Shall we go in?”

Owen and Clara agreed, and so the three of them walked into the restaurant, and were shown to their table.

“So tell me,” Clara said, after they’d ordered drinks, “how in the world did my slob of a brother manage to land someone like you?”

“ _Hey_ ,” Owen complained.

Claire looked like she didn’t know what to make of the question.

“He saved my life, actually,” Claire said simply. “And my nephews. After that…” She shrugged, and gave a small smile. “Let’s just say I became aware of his virtues.”

“Saved your life?” Clara glanced between them. “How?”

“One of the dinosaurs got out, a really nasty one,” Owen said, before Claire could downplay what had happened. “Killed a bunch of people before it was taken down.”

“So you were protecting Claire and her nephews?”

“Yeah,” Owen agreed. “While trying to bring the Indominus – that was the dinosaur that escaped – down at the same time. That was when I shifted for the first time.”

Clara froze, her gaze darting between Owen and Claire.

“Owen…”

“Claire knows,” Owen informed his sister. “That I can turn into a raptor, I mean,” he added, just to make it clear that he hadn’t said anything about the rest of the family. “She was there when it happened.”

Clara sat without moving.

“Is something wrong?” Claire asked, in concern.

Clara took a deep breath.

“You’re not bothered,” she told Owen. Owen shrugged.

“I trust Claire not to tell anyone.”

“Of course I wouldn’t,” said Claire. “God knows what would happen if someone like InGen got hold of him.”

Clara gave Claire a long, hard look. Claire met her gaze unflinchingly.

Clara slowly sighed.

“Well,” she said, and her tired grin was genuine. “Looks like you picked yourself a keeper, Owen.”

The waiter returned with their drinks, and Clara immediately took a long gulp of her cocktail.

“So, Claire,” she said, “what do you do around here?”

“Oh, I’m the operations manager,” Claire explained. Clara struggled not to choke on her drink.

“You’re Owen’s _boss?_ ” she spluttered.

“Not directly,” Claire said, looking a little uncomfortable, while Owen said at the same time,

“It sounds bad when you put it that way.”

“Aren’t there any regulations against it?” Clara asked, still looking amazed.

“Not really,” said Claire. “Besides, no one who knows, cares.”

“I don’t know, your nephews seemed pretty impressed,” Owen teased. Claire huffed.

“Don’t remind me. They watched me shoot down a pterosaur that was about to eat you, and they think _you’re_ the badass? How is that fair?”

“I’m pretty certain they changed their minds about you after you lured the T-rex in to fight the Indominus,” Owen said consolingly.

“That’s true.” Claire seemed mollified.

Clara stared at them.

“You two are perfect for each other,” she said wonderingly. Owen grinned at her.

“Yeah, I think so, too.”

The conversation turned back to Clara, who talked a little about her work as a lawyer with one of the big law firms. Owen had never really been interested in any of the legal stuff, but he pretended to listen as Clara and Claire talked about different legal issues. He tuned back in as Claire explained the trouble the park had been having with InGen.

“They finally gave in when we threatened to take them to court,” Claire said, “and we should have all our scientists back by the end of next week. So thank God that is all settled. The lawyers really came through for us on that one.”

“InGen are going to be working with us again?” Owen wasn’t sure how he felt about that, after the disaster, but it was true that the park needed InGen’s skills and patented dinosaur genes. “That’s great.”

“I know,” said Claire. “It means the park is likely to survive in the long term. But no more experimental dinosaurs,” she added resolutely. “I learned my lesson on that one, and Mr Masrani and the board agree with me.”

“You know,” said Owen, “life is looking pretty good right now. I’ve got my pack, I’m dating a wonderful woman, and it looks like my job isn’t going to disappear. Yep, things look good.”

Claire smiled at him, and Owen smiled back.

“Just wait until Mom hears you have a girlfriend,” said Clara casually. “You’ll be singing a different tune.”

“You’re terrible,” said Owen, but he couldn’t help his grin.

Yeah. Things looked pretty good.


End file.
